Announcement of Inquiry

The future mission and make-up of Britain's Armed Forces in a world of changing security priorities - and the resources needed to sustain those Forces - are to be the subject of a new inquiry by the House of Commons Defence Committee. The inquiry has been prompted, in part, by the Prime Minister's recent speech on future defence capabilities, which he delivered on HMS Albion on 12 January.

In its inquiry,
"UK Defence: Commitments and Resources", the Committee plans to review whether the assumptions made in the Government's Strategic Defence Review in 1998 and the Future Capabilities White Paper in 2005 still hold good when looking at Britain's place in the world in ten or twenty years time. It will examine how the demands on, and the structures of, the Armed Forces have changed over the past ten years, and whether they are best configured to meet these new demands. In advance of the outcome of the Government's Spending Review 2007, it plans to explore whether current commitments are sustainable without an increase in resources.

The Committee will take oral evidence from the Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, on
Tuesday 6 March (10 am at Westminster).

A further evidence will be held on
Tuesday 13 March. Witnesses will be announced nearer the time.

The Committee would welcome written evidence on these matters. This should be sent to the Clerk of the Defence Committee by Wednesday
28 February. (See guidance note below).

Submissions should be in Word or rich text format and sent by e-mail to [email protected] The body of the e-mail must include a contact name, telephone number and postal address. The e-mail should also make clear who the submission is from.

Submissions should be as brief as possible, and paragraphs should be numbered for ease of reference. Longer documents should include an executive summary.

Committees make public much of the evidence they receive during inquiries. If you do not wish your submission to be published, you must clearly say so. If you wish to include private or confidential information in your submission to the Committee, please contact the Clerk of the Committee to discuss this.

Personal information, such as address and contact details, should be provided separately from the body of your submission. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Submissions should be original work, not previously published or circulated elsewhere. Once submitted, no public use should be made of the submission unless you have first obtained permission from the Clerk of the Committee.